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On Chestnuts: the trees and their seeds
In England the horse chestnut or conker is a much-loved tree. Its edible cousin, the sweet chestnut, is valued here in winter for a turkey stuffing or a bag of hot nuts from the brazier, but is much less common than in warmer southern climes where it has been an actual staple of the diet of some...
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The Elder in History, Myth and Cookery
The elder is a tree or bush (or even weed) for which humanity has found a use for each and every part: the leaf, the bark, the wood or branch, the flower and, finally, the berry or fruit. Some of these functions, or associations, are both mythic and grounded in superstition: that the elder encour...